Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Re-mastered pressing

We mentioned a couple of months ago that, as part of the forthcoming Distractions box-set, Hidden Masters will be including a re-mastered pressing of the debut album:

Currently untitled, the Distractions retrospective is being planned for release Autumn 2013 as 1 x vinyl + either 2 or 3-CD set, presented in a 12″ hard back, casebound book format and will include their one and only Island album as a re-mastered 180gsm pressing – about which, the final line in Paul Morley’s July 3rd 1980 lead review for the NME stated | This is heart beat music that bruises the soul.Judging from the tantalizing snippets heard thus far, the re-mastering process - which is being undertaken with full blessing of The Distractions - will undoubtedly enhance the record. Meanwhile, over on the respected Rate Your Musicsite, Nobody's Perfect has been the subjected of a couple more reviews from collectors.

The Distractions
are sometimes assimilated with the mod bands that were rife at the time their
sole album was released. However, they completely escape categorization
and that's what makes them unique, of course, but also timeless although none
of their songs has ever made much of an imprint on the pop-rock fan's musical
memory.

"Nobody's
Perfect" includes fourteen songs, among them a fantastic cover of a
little-known song written in 1964 by Buddy Kaye and Tommy Scott, called 'Boys
Cry'.

Three of the band
members contributed to the song writing and it is striking to notice that even
though Steve Perrin is credited on most of the songs - whether individually or
together with main vocalist Mike Finney - the best song might well be Adrian
Wright's '(Stuck in a) Fantasy' which opens side two of this rich and varied
record which does not sound outdated at all even thirty years later.

Jingly rock songs may hardly sound more natural than on the Nobody's Perfect album. Songs are catchy and upbeat like they made them in the sixties when the rock
was still young, but nonetheless the album is filled with punk spirit as the
time demanded it then. To my great delight the album isn’t smooth at all; it
sounds agreeably rough and rebelliously boisterous.